Episode notes
Healthcare might be the only job where someone can assault you…and five minutes later, you’re expected to walk back into their room and ask them to rate their pain.
In this episode of Side Quest Mamas, we’re talking about the uncomfortable reality of violence against healthcare workers—and the culture that has somehow normalized abuse as “part of the job.”
We get into the complicated stuff, too. Patients can be scared, confused, intoxicated, mentally ill, cognitively impaired, in tremendous pain, or genuinely unable to control their behavior. They still deserve appropriate medical care.
But understanding why someone behaves violently doesn’t mean the people caring for them should have to absorb the violence.
Where is the line between compassion and self-protection? Why should an employee who has just been assaulted be expected to continue directly caring for the person who assaulted them? And why have healthcare workers become so accustomed to threats, harassment, spitting, grabbing, hitting, and abuse that sometimes we barely even acknowledge it anymore?
We’re not asking anyone to stop caring about patients.
We’re asking healthcare systems—and society—to remember that the people taking care of those patients are human, too.
You can provide compassionate care and still have boundaries.
Because getting punched should never be part of the job description.